So this situation is a little complicated but I’m sure you’ve heard worse. Ultimately for 2022, 2023, and 2024 I was under the impression that since my wife wasn’t working and doesn’t have a social security number yet that I should just file as single and not have to worry about it. Then this year we finally decided to file for her ITIN at which point I learned that not only should I not have filed as Single, but I’ve been screwing myself by not including her. (Silly me)
So we go through a tax firm that can validate her passport and all that good stuff and we amend my 2022 1040 to include her and along with it we file the W7 for ITIN and with her passport our marriage certificate and all that. All of those documents have the correct legal spelling of her name. It has to be filed by mail so in April we signed the amended return and mail it off.
Smash cut to yesterday we finally get mail from the IRS. The name on the envelope is for her but her first name is spelled wrong. Inside is a check for the difference of the return, the check has my name on it, spelled correctly, and her name on it spelled wrong.
So now my fear is that the IRS has the wrong name for my wife and if I ignore this and amend 23 and 24 with the correct spellings I’m worried I’ll be flagged or something.
Anyone experienced something like this and have any advice?
Waited 5 months for this check and the name is wrong 😑 should I even deposit this?
byu/TryToBePositive08 intax
Posted by TryToBePositive08
2 Comments
Don’t worry about it, deposit the check, and then be sure that your next amended return does have her name spelled correctly.
FWIW, some names are too long for the IRS system to handle, and in those cases there are rules on how to reduce the characters – if the “misspelling’ is missing letters that might be why.
If her name is wrong with SSA then I would recommend you follow up and get that fixed.
You can definitely deposit the check.
Continue to spell her name correctly. The IRS matches on TIN and the first five letters of the last name, or something like that, so if those are correct, you won’t have any problem.